As President Obama gears up for a Thursday speech before Congress about his jobs agenda, a civil rights leader in his hometown is urging him to focus on proposing massive investment in construction projects.With official unemployment hovering above 9 percent, the president is expected to propose tra

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is trying to throw another wrench into a key immigration-enforcement program of President Obama’s administration, saying it ensnares too many people and erodes trust in local police.

July unemployment rates dropped from a year earlier in all but one of Illinois' 12 metro areas.The state Department of Employment Security said Thursday that the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island area had the lowest unemployment rate at 7.1 percent.

There are more than 25 million Americans who are either unemployed or can't find full-time work.Nationwide, the broader unemployment rate, which tracks this group, is 16.2 percent. But the rate varies widely from state to state, according to the latest numbers from the BLS.

Americans cut back on their spending in June for the first time in nearly two years and their incomes grew by the smallest amount in nine months, a troubling sign for an economy that is barely growing.The Commerce Department says consumer spending dropped 0.2 percent in June.

To find out more about female veterans, Eight Forty-Eight turned to Larkin Ray Harris; Harris is a Navy veteran set to direct a study for the National Center on Family Homelessness about unemployment among female veterans in Chicago.